Zenaéca Singh is an artist who investigates the sugar economy’s complex legacy in South Africa, encompassing its connections to migration, colonialism, labour exploitation, and the gendered dynamics of the domestic sphere. Working across painting, sculpture and installation, she often begins with family photographs, mementos that navigate the themes of history, identity and memory. Singh has completed an MFA from the University of Cape Town’s Michaelis School of Fine Art, where she received multiple awards for her BFA and was an Accelerated Transformation of the Academic Programme Fellow during her Masters. In 2023, her work was featured in Greatest Hits at Leeuwenhof Slave Lodge Remembrance Gallery, in collaboration with the Association of Visual Arts. Other recent exhibitions include Entangled (with Guns & Rain), Oxford Rhodes House; Browning the Archive, Michaelis Gallery (Cape Town); and the Fenix Museum’s permanent exhibition All Directions (2025).

Residency Project

My work for the residency, Currents of Sugar, examines the introduction and circulation of sugar in the Gulf from the early Islamic period through the twentieth century. It considers the UAE’s position within Indian Ocean trade networks linking South Asia, Persia, Northeast Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. In order to confront dominant narratives of the European trade and colonisation of sugar from India, then a valued but initially limited commodity, I created a dhow out of sugar-glass, placing it in an ocean-scape of sugar. This work allowed me not only to experiment with display but also to challenge narratives about the boats and their routes. I also painted waves onto stretched white cotton with date molasses, evoking relationships between the materials (sugar and cotton) and slavery and indenture.

I investigated as well how sugar moved from being a luxury good to a household staple, focusing on the social and cultural dimensions of its consumption. I researched its use in medicine, hospitality, religious celebrations and everyday foods as well as its association with coffee, tea and dates. Oral histories, trade records and local cookery traditions were used to understand how sugar was used and valued. I experimented with a new way of sculpting with the material by mixing it with a 3:1 ratio of sugar to water and a teaspoon of gum arabic powder. The latter became a binder for the sugar to help hold its shape and crystallise it into its new form, allowing me to make a traditional tea and coffee set entirely out of sugar.

Through its focus on sugar, this project can offer a lens into broader themes of globalisation, consumption and cultural adaptation in the UAE and the wider region. While sugar is often associated with colonial plantation systems elsewhere, its history in the Gulf reveals a different story, one shaped by maritime trade, regional exchange and evolving patterns of consumption. It contributes to Gulf historiography by foregrounding everyday materials and tastes, showing how global commodities were locally negotiated and meaningfully integrated.